Business Communication I (WIKO I)

Course Description

  • The first Business Communication course in French necessitates knowledge of the language corresponding to the level A2 according to CEFR/GERS. (Having learned French in high school in Austria should have equipped you with the necessary language skills.) 

Contents

  • Formal and informal social manners
  • On the phone/handling a video conference
  • Appointments and invitations
  • To move and travel; accepting or rejecting a foreign order
  • gastronomy
  • Conferences and meetings
  • Appearing in public, holding a speech, being persuasive
  • HR administration
  • Buying and selling

Grammar

  • Tenses in the indicative mood (Present tense, présent progressif ou continu, immediate future, future tense, immediate past, passé-composé, perfect tense)
  • Conditional forms(Present and past tense) and conditional clauses
  • Present Conjunctive (Subjonctif)
  • Imperative
  • Nominalisation
  • Negation (ne... personne ; ne... rien ; ne... jamais ; ne... plus)
  • Logical connections
  • Time markers (depuis ; il y a ; en ; à ; pendant ; quand ; lorsque ; jusqu'à ce que ; au moment où)
  • Adverbial pronouns (y; en)
  • Simple relative pronouns (qui ; que ; dont ; où)
  • Passive voice
  • Present participle and the gerund
  • Adverbs
  • Demonstrative adjectives and adverbs
  • Direct and indirect pronouns, doppelte Pronomensetzung
  • Direct questions
  • Indirect speech

Methods

  • The methods are communicative and practical. Through a selection of authentic topics, students get the opportunity to practice how to engage with French-speaking business partners and colleagues, as well as how to deal with typical situations in the French world of work, and work trips in franco-phone countries through e.g. group work, dialogues and peer reviews. 

Goals

  • Aim: Language level B1 according to GERS/CEFR (specialised language/business)
  • This course aims at providing students with the basic vocabulary of French business communication, as well as developing the written and spoken language skills necessary to communicate effectively in the French world of work and work-related daily business. To that end basic grammatical knowledge will be deepened and practiced to achieve language level B1 (specialised language/business).

Literature

  • Course book: Objectif express 2, Niveau A2/B1, Le monde professionnel en français, première édition, livre de l’élève et cahier d’activités (Lehrbuch und Übungsheft)
  • Material made available on moodle
  • Additional material:
    • Communication en dialogue, niveau intermédiaire, CLE international.
    • Vocabulaire progressif du français des affaires, 2ème édition, CLE international.
    • Communication progressive du français des affaires, niveau intermédiaire, CLE international.
    • Grammaire progressive du français des affaires, niveau intermédiaire, CLE international.
    • Vite et Bien 2, B1, 2ème  édition, CLE international.
    • Quartier d’affaires 2, B 1, CLE international.